THEWEEKINTEN 04

Can Ogilvy take top two creative positions?

The battle for creative leadership has never been closer

November  26, 2012.

There’s still much to fight for in the remaining advertising competitions of 2012. One of the most intriguing possibilities is that Ogilvy Johannesburg will come in second, behind Ogilvy Cape Town, making it a clean sweep for the Ogilvy group.  The Cape shop has consolidated its already unassailable hold on top spot for 2012  creative league by heading the Assegai Awards  for direct response and interactive marketing.

Now Ogilvy Johannesburg has overtaken TBWA Hunt Lascaris to grab second spot – for the moment. But TBWA is only two points adrift, and there’s still time to recapture the position. Will it regain lost ground? Tough call.

There’s a spread of only 11 points between Black River F.C. (9th)  and Machine/Y&R (joint 13^th).  Any one of six agencies (also including 140 BBDO, Jupiter Cape Town, Ireland/Davenport) could leap to 9^th with a good showing in the remaining competitions of the year.

Black River is a point ahead of 140 BBDO, which is two points up on Jupiter Cape. Can it hold them off? It has a good chance for an Ad of the Year for its “last dictators” commercial for Nando’s.

Machine’s six points at the Assegais enabled it to pull level with Y&R, and to raise its position on the table from 12^th to joint 13^th.  But Y&R and Machine are still 16 points adrift of Ireland/Davenport, a gap that may be too big for them to bridge.

Lesoba Difference’s  showing at the Assegais brought it into the table at 25^th. Digital specialist Gloo, which tends to pick up points  in non-digital competitions as well, also moved up a place thanks to 10 Assegai points.  Gloo was named the AdReview Agency of the Year in May.

An adjustment to the table has moved Native down from 21^st to 29^th. Although it earned 73 points at the Bookmarks, two of these were not creative awards, and should not have been included in the Creative League Table.

Creative standings after Assegai Awards 2012

	Agency	Clio	D&AD	One Show	Cannes	Pendoring	Loerie	Bookmarks	Assegais	Total points	2011 Rank
1	Ogilvy Cape Town	53	43	123	199		6008	179	58	1 263	4
2	TBWA Hunt Lascaris	78	82	179	119	24	125			607	2
3	Ogilvy Johannesburg	103	195	27	33	73	153	20	21	605	5
4	Net#work BBDO	3	91		220	16	236			566	1
5	Joe Public	3		3		60	280	60		406	12
6	DDB South Africa	3	13	6	187	4	141			354	8
7	MetropolitanRepublic	75	13	3	117	4	71			272	24
8	KingJames	28			18		175	3		224	18
9	Black River F.C.			3	12	16	134	10		175
10	140 BBDO	3					158	13		174	9
11	Jupiter Cape Town	14	13	28	3	12	89	13		172	6
12	Ireland/Davenport	3	30				125	6		164	12
13	Y&R	6	13		3		103			122	3
13	Machine	11		3			115	13	6	148
15	Gloo						76	55	10	141	11
16	Grey		104	31						135	22
17	FoxP2	3	13		3		103			122	3
18	Jupiter Johannesburg		13		12		72			97
19	Grid						74			74	26
19	HelloComputer						40	34		74	7
22	Lowe Bull	36	30		3					69	19
23	Saatchi & Saatchi						62			62	27
23	Trigger					12		50		62
25	iLogic							29	30	59
26	Lesoba Difference								56	56
27	Draftfcb Jhb					40				40	10
28	Quirk							35		35
29	M&C Saatchi						6	6	22	34
30	Both Worlds							33		33
30	Native							33		33
30	Synergize							33		33
33	Liquorice							30		30
34	Etiket					24				24
35	JWT CT		13					10		23
35	Touchlab							23		23
37	Home of the Brave					20				20
37	Cerebra							20		20
37	In Jozi							20		20

1. Minimum score shown: 20.
2. This table has been corrected. 40 points originally allocated to Native have been withdrawn because the awards in question were not creative awards.

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Agency of  the Future

A hitherto little-known agency could be showing the way

As marketing activity tends to move towards non-media advertising, the frontline role of the TV commercial weakens. The Creative Counsel is an agency based on the idea that non-traditional or below-the-line activity should be dominant. TCC uses conventional advertising only in a supporting role. Its main focus is on activation, but its diversified activities include instore promotions, field marketing and eventing.

In 11 years since startup, TCC has grown to a size (based on permanent employee numbers) exceeded by only two conventional agency groups – Ogilvy and Draftfcb. It runs 300-400 campaigns a year for clients and has a turnover  of about R500m a year. It has done this quietly and without fanfare.

“We create consumer experiences around brands that lead to transactions,” say joint CEOs Gil Oved and Ran Neu-Ner. “What clients want today are media-agnostic ideas. If the big idea is right, it will find its own medium”

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Cell C moves media account to Ogilvy

After three years, Aegis Media has lost the media planning and buying account for Cell C, according to the Financial Mail. ACNielsen reports Cell C’s media advertising expenditure last year at R196m, making it the 26^th biggest in the country. The account will now be handled by Ogilvy Johannesburg, which already handles the creative advertising work.

Aegis will retrench five of the 20 people working on the account, but CEO Dawn Rowlands says the impact on the agency, which is growing 30% a year, will be small.

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Diane zooms away

Acceleration Media MD Diane Charton is leaving the company to become MD at the Red & Yellow School of Advertising.